“The impact of the food crisis has been quite large in small countries because they import a lot of their foods from outside to mostly cater for the large number of tourists that is coming in. And when prices go up globally they are very much affected in terms of their import bills. But now they are putting a lot more attention into developing their local agriculture,” he said.
Hailu said this not only reduces imported food bills, but provides consumers with what he calls a local healthier alternative.
Becoming more resilient
Conference participants are looking at both challenges and opportunities.
“The meeting is basically to look at how they can improve their resilience to these kinds of problems; and how they can be in a better position to react to these crises that they face from time to time,” he said.
The Island nations are expected to voice their concerns and ideas at June’s RIO+20 conference on sustainable development. The United Nations classifies 52 countries and territories as Small Island Developing States. Most are in the Caribbean and Pacific regions.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25